Wanganui Chronicle, AND PATEA AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 1876.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 3203, 27 October 1876, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle, AND PATEA AND RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 1876.

The House of Representatives would seem to be a doubtful school for studying the courtesies of language, if we may judge from the effect it appears to have produced upon a certain bumptious warrior who has but lately returned from the scene of wordy warfare. In the presence of this blusteriug, hectoring, iconoclast, who offensively parades his innate repugnance to all forms and manifestations ot religious life, we are prepared very " umbly " to take a back seat. We appreciate to the full the withering sarcasm contained iv the reproach anent our youth, and we bow our heads in contrition for all the heinous offences suggested by the outburst of scorn which threatens to extinguish poor, " unable," unfortunate ** locals." | Our contemporary assailed us last night with charges of trickiness, disingenuousness, and a mild type of hypocricy, because, in dealing with his libellous charges agaiust Young Meu's Christian Associations generally, we did not enter at -length into the merits or demerits of the course pursued by the Dunedin Association in blackballing the Rev Mr Fitchett. Curiously enough, if the charges hurled at us are applicable at all, they applicable- to our^onfem-T pdrary's own article of the previous evening, in which, under cover of dealing with " the blackballing of the Rev Mr Fitchett," the whole article was taken up with virulently attackingall institutions established upon a basis similar to that ot the offending one. Exception is taken to our having suggested that our contemporary erred ie ignorance of the operations of the institutions which he attacked. We frankly apologize for the term "ignorance," which we used, however, in preference to a charge of " falsifying knowledge," the ouly other alternative. Oue word more — our contemporary has thought fit, in a journalistic passage of arms, to drag iuto the discussion the local preaching ot one of the parties concerned. The example may prove for him a rather unfortunate one. Of late years it has seemed a master stroke of policy to assume an air of eminent respectability — but the evidences are not far to seek of previous doubtful practices, which, in the eyes of the world, .would not appear much more creditable than even local preaching. We have received from an esteemed correspondent a voluminous report of the proceedings of the late "Waverley meeting anent the matter of the enlargement of the public hall, As we gave our own correspondent's account, together with the result, iv our issue of yesterday, from which in. essence that just received differs but slightly, we need not again refer to the matter, further than to remark that some excellent, earnest, and substantial arguments were advanced on the other side. The meeting appears to have approached the subject quite iv a different spirit from that embodied and displayed in the pseudo-utilitarian aud quasi- practical ratiocination so essentially a feature in the ' Herald's ' flippant disquisition of last night. But then, who expected aught else ? Cau the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? The ' Herald/ as in the Yogel, the Fox, and a score of other instances, must s.acrifice its convictions — save the mark — at the shrine of coveted popularity. If a resolution in favour of an opposite view of the case had been carried, then would our unimpeachable contemporary have observed a discreet silence, or perchance have risked a jongratulatory dissertation in reference thereto. Policy, popularity, and expediency comprise the creed and programme, and by these tests must the journalistic conduct be regulated. Our Contemporary's flippancy when dealing with serious matters is not relished either in Waverley, which was once a stronghold, nor in Wanganui, where the repetition of the ill-advised course has permanently estranged and alienated a large section of tho more penctratiug and thoughtful among our comiiHinity.

Tiie river is again cause for unrestrained anathemas. Seriously, the unuavigable reputation which the Wauganui river is achieving, is doing us, as a commercial and maritime centre, irreparable injury. Every vessel that sticks fast on these eternal flats, speeds the news to each near and distant port ; and the drawback is magnified, the town and district suffering proportionately. The evil is really assuming abnormal dimensions, and it is time that some steps were being taken to remove or ameliorate the obstructive tendency of the sandbanks. Can nothing be done in the w.iy of procuring a dredge ? Mr Pharazyn offered to ascertain all the necessary particulars relative to the purchase of a suitable dredge, but he was not encouraged to proceed. Our snag punt is laid up in ordinary until time shall be no more, and altogether our prospects are rather depressing in so far as our river navigation is concerned, while the representatives of the people survey the position helplessly, and the inhabitants of Poneke look forward to the rapidly approaching. .denouement. Could not our harbour-master devise some means by which to diminish the occurrence of these far too frequent groundings ? Is the permanent channel thoroughly surveyed, and is its course properly buoyed out ?